INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS
COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
COMMISSIONING?

THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®

BENEFITS OF
3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
COMMISSIONING

TECHNICAL INNOVATION
WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

Reduced costs
Digital continuity
Immersive engagement
Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
PRINCIPLE

ACCELERATE LINE COMMISSIONING

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

WITH 3DEXPERIENCE AND VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
®

1
 INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION WHAT IS
COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
In today's manufacturing market, the challenge for engineers, COMMISSIONING?
manufacturers, line builders and system integrators is to move
efficiently from ideas to implementation. The aim is to take all steps THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
possible to facilitate innovation and avoid unnecessary delays and
rework. After all, time is money. BENEFITS OF
3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
To remain competitive, manufacturing businesses need to optimize COMMISSIONING
everything from product architecture and engineering all the way
through to installation and commissioning. TECHNICAL INNOVATION
WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

Reduced costs
In this guide, we'll look at how line building is optimized through our
Digital continuity
3DEXPERIENCE® solution, with a particular focus on the area that
Immersive engagement
often presents the biggest challenge – commissioning.
Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
PRINCIPLE

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

2
 INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS COMMISSIONING? WHAT IS

COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
Commissioning is the process of testing that a system that has been COMMISSIONING?
designed and installed is fit for its intended purpose before that
system can be used in the real world. Traditionally, this involves THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
testing work being done on the shop floor.
BENEFITS OF
3DEXPERIENCE®
PROJECT TIME AND VIRTUAL LINE
COMMISSIONING
Typically, the commissioning stage takes up
approximately 25% of the time in a line-building TECHNICAL INNOVATION
project. WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

Reduced costs
Digital continuity
PROJECT DELAYS
Immersive engagement
Commissioning can be responsible for up to 70% Testing and quality
of project delays, due to the consequence of Independence
errors in control software. Security
Model simplification

This disproportionate level of disruption can lead to expensive rework VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
and can have a negative impact on communication and trust between PRINCIPLE

internal and external stakeholders. COMPETITIVE

ADVANTAGES
Can we make commissioning more efficient? Yes – through virtual
commissioning. THE BOTTOM LINE

3
 INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING? WHAT IS

COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
Virtual commissioning improves on traditional shop floor commissioning COMMISSIONING?
by performing tests in a partial or full virtual environment. This speeds
up the process and significantly reduces the potential for expensive THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
delays due to errors and rework.
BENEFITS OF
3DEXPERIENCE®
At Dassault Systèmes, we go far beyond virtual commissioning AND VIRTUAL LINE
alone. Our 3DEXPERIENCE® gives manufacturers and line builders COMMISSIONING
capabilities to design and virtually test before any real line building or
TECHNICAL INNOVATION
testing happens.
WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

Reduced costs
Digital continuity
Immersive engagement
Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
PRINCIPLE

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

4
 INTRODUCTION

THE 3DEXPERIENCE® WHAT IS

COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
In the past, line modelling would be done in 2D CAD systems, COMMISSIONING?
recreated through separate 3D design tools, exported to Photoshop
for demonstration and eventually commissioned on the shop floor. THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®

This was time consuming, expensive and prone to error. Today's line BENEFITS OF
3DEXPERIENCE®
builders need a faster, less fragmented approach. AND VIRTUAL LINE
COMMISSIONING
3DEXPERIENCE® is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) cloud environment
TECHNICAL INNOVATION
that enables end-to-end engineering, design and virtualization testing. WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®
This allows teams to collaborate and communicate around what an
Reduced costs
ideal factory line should look like before the system is built and tested
Digital continuity
for real. We go past normal product lifecycle management, giving
Immersive engagement
teams a way of collaborating remotely on manufacturing projects, to
Testing and quality
convey how products are perceived and the way they are used.
Independence
Security
One of the key features is our 3DEXPERIENCE® twin – a virtual replica
Model simplification
that is used to simulate factory lines so as to speed up development,
reduce risk and costs, and to provide an immersive 3D model that VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
offers more effective stakeholder engagement. PRINCIPLE

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

5
 INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS
COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
COMMISSIONING?

BENEFITS OF 3DEXPERIENCE® AND THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®

VIRTUAL LINE COMMISSIONING
BENEFITS OF
3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
COMMISSIONING

TECHNICAL INNOVATION
WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®
SPEED UNITY
Reduced costs
Up to 75% faster commissioning (Reinhart and Single-source project resources – work on the latest Digital continuity
Wünsch, 2007) – get to market quicker, with less designs and avoid miscommunication. Immersive engagement
expensive rework. Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification

UPTIME CLARITY
Immersive 3D demonstrations – convince VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
Keep your lines running – test and commission PRINCIPLE
stakeholders by showing, not telling.
through a virtual twin.
COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

CLOUD INNOVATION
Scalable and future proof – save money on Develop quickly and test thoroughly – explore all
expensive servers. the "what if" scenarios.

6
 INTRODUCTION

TECHNICAL INNOVATION WHAT IS

COMMISSIONING?

WITH 3DEXPERIENCE® WHAT IS VIRTUAL

COMMISSIONING?

The 3DEXPERIENCE® twin offers key technical differentiators that

THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
take the platform far beyond traditional digital mock-up or product
lifecycle management tools.
BENEFITS OF
3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
COMMISSIONING

TECHNICAL INNOVATION
WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

Reduced costs
Digital continuity
Immersive engagement
Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
PRINCIPLE

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

7
 INTRODUCTION

REDUCED COSTS WHAT IS

COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
The 3DEXPERIENCE® twin validates acceptance tests and reduces COMMISSIONING?
control program debug time at customer sites. It reduces errors during
scaling and reduces the shutdown time of lines between modification, THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
as changes can be simulated before being applied.
BENEFITS OF
3DEXPERIENCE®
As a cloud solution, 3DEXPERIENCE allows teams to be located
®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
around the world, helping businesses save money and remain flexible COMMISSIONING
as they operate an increasingly distributed workforce. Teams can
TECHNICAL INNOVATION
collaborate and commission at a distance, with less need to go on WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®
location to check lines. It's possible to fully execute a commissioning
Reduced costs
phase across borders without ever leaving your office.
Digital continuity
Immersive engagement
Collaborative design offers a huge benefit compared with consolidating
Testing and quality
and tailoring independent layout designs, which could consume up to
Independence
60% of the project time (Chen, 2017).
Security
Model simplification
Virtual commissioning could save months versus traditional methods,
with an up to 75% reduction in control debugging time (Reinhart and VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
Wünsch, 2007). Factory downtime is reduced by avoiding bad design PRINCIPLE
or unnecessary work, which could save large sums and could reduce
COMPETITIVE
total installation time by 15–25% (Makris, Michalos and Chryssolouris ADVANTAGES
2012).
THE BOTTOM LINE

8
 INTRODUCTION

DIGITAL CONTINUITY WHAT IS

COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
A unified, cloud-based design and testing platform allows the same COMMISSIONING?
data to be usable from inquiry to order through to order fulfilment.
This ensures continuity and promotes collaboration between teams, THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
as they work remotely on concurrent models and securely share
those models with clients online. By working from a set of up-to- BENEFITS OF
date files, teams reduce their chances of miscommunication and 3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
misunderstanding. COMMISSIONING

Fine control of how and when components are simplified in the TECHNICAL INNOVATION
system means that third parties can contribute to a project while their WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

intellectual property is protected. Reduced costs

Digital continuity
Immersive engagement
Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
PRINCIPLE

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

9
 INTRODUCTION

IMMERSIVE ENGAGEMENT WHAT IS

COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
Reusing design data means that immersive virtual reality COMMISSIONING?
demonstrations for marketing can be produced with no rework.
Instead of showing stakeholders 2D designs in Photoshop, the THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
3DEXPERIENCE® allows you to run an immersive 3D virtual demo of
the design so that all parties can see exactly how the line will operate BENEFITS OF
in the real world. 3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
COMMISSIONING
The use of 3D design instead of 2D for process design improves
design quality, helps to proactively mitigate risk and reduces design TECHNICAL INNOVATION
validation and verification lead time (Sharma et al., 2013). WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

Reduced costs
Digital continuity
Immersive engagement
Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
PRINCIPLE

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

10
 INTRODUCTION

TESTING AND QUALITY WHAT IS

COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
Machine and line simulation together mean you can simulate a COMMISSIONING?
complete line – machines, conveyors and robots – via a single
environment. THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®

Virtual line commissioning offers a faster, more accurate and more BENEFITS OF
flexible way to conduct commissioning. It removes the constraints 3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
imposed by traditional line simulators, allowing for the testing of COMMISSIONING
"what if" scenarios to drive value generation for line builders.
TECHNICAL INNOVATION
Better testing with virtual commissioning leads to quality improvement WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

measures, with quality scores going from 37% to 84% (M. Schamp et Reduced costs
al., 2018). Digital continuity
Immersive engagement
Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
PRINCIPLE

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

11
 INTRODUCTION

INDEPENDENCE WHAT IS
COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
Equipment and machines designed with different CAD tools can be COMMISSIONING?
used to for building and line models in the same session. This makes
3DEXPERIENCE® flexible and responsive to the existing skills within THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
development teams. Design work done in SOLIDWORKS and CATIA
can be combined on the 3DEXPERIENCE® platform, allowing seamless BENEFITS OF
collaboration across teams. 3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
COMMISSIONING
While other suppliers may struggle to integrate with some CAD
packages, we support all major tools and can work in 3D. TECHNICAL INNOVATION
WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

Our system connects to real PLCs, with full support for every PLC, Reduced costs
including SIEMENS, ROCKWELL Automation, SCHNEIDER and ABB. Digital continuity
Immersive engagement
Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
PRINCIPLE

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

12
 INTRODUCTION

SECURITY WHAT IS
COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
Intellectual property protection is guaranteed by simple and secure COMMISSIONING?
access rights management. You manage and customize access rights,
deciding who can access which parts of the project, making it very THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
easy to open your project to other collaborators by integrating them
on the platform if you wish. BENEFITS OF
3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
There is no risk of losing your data or unauthorized access to your COMMISSIONING
intellectual property.
TECHNICAL INNOVATION
WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

Reduced costs
Digital continuity
Immersive engagement
Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
PRINCIPLE

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

13
 INTRODUCTION

MODEL SIMPLIFICATION WHAT IS

COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
Quick resource loading time – Removing the kinematics, some COMMISSIONING?
components inside the machine, but maintain a detailed visual
representation of the machine, pre-sales models can be loaded THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
15 times faster than the full model. Removing cosmetic components
and keeping only the kinematics means that a model that's fit for BENEFITS OF
virtual commissioning could be opened in only 4 time faster than 3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
than the full model. COMMISSIONING

The simplified models allows to simulation the 3D movements in TECHNICAL INNOVATION

x15 FASTER real-time. WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

Reduced costs
Digital continuity
Immersive engagement
Testing and quality
Independence
Security

x15 Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
FASTER PRINCIPLE

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

ORIGINAL MODELS FOR
MODEL PRE-SALES

14
 INTRODUCTION

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING PRINCIPLE WHAT IS

COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
The principle of the Virtual commissioning is to validate the same
Control software prior commissioning on real line. 1 2 COMMISSIONING?

THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
The final control software is run either in a Virtual PLC (Software-In- VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING COMMISSIONING
the-Loop) or in a Physical PLC (Hardware-In-the-Loop) (LINE BUILDER OFFICE) (CUSTOMER SITE) BENEFITS OF
3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
In 1, Virtual or Physical PLC is connected to the Virtual Line via COMMISSIONING
communication drivers (OPC-UA or specific/standard industrial
protocols). TECHNICAL INNOVATION
WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

In 2, The physical PLC is connected to the real line via physical Ios. Reduced costs
Digital continuity
VIRTUAL OR PHYSICAL PHYSICAL CONTROLLER Immersive engagement
CONTROLLER (PLC(*)) (PLC(*)) Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification
COMMUNICATION DRIVERS I/OS

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
PRINCIPLE

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

VIRTUAL LINE REAL LINE

*PLC : Programmable Logic Controller 15

 INTRODUCTION

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES WHAT IS

COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
The 3DEXPERIENCE® with virtual line commissioning allows lines COMMISSIONING?
to be designed and tested with confidence. Here are even more
benefits this approach offers to manufacturers and line builders in a THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
competitive market.
BENEFITS OF
3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
COMMISSIONING

TECHNICAL INNOVATION
WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®
ADAPTABILITY PRODUCT QUALITY
Reduced costs
The virtual test environment allows you to test Robust testing leads to an optimized line with
Digital continuity
possible new product types and reorganize a lower fault rate and less rework.
Immersive engagement
existing lines with minimum downtime. Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
PRINCIPLE

COMMISSIONING EARLIER START COMPETITIVE

ADVANTAGES
COST/TIME REDUCTION OF PRODUCTION
Reduce total installation time by 15–25%, control Accelerate time to market by up to 40%. THE BOTTOM LINE
debugging time by 75% and redesign costs.

16
 INTRODUCTION

THE BOTTOM LINE WHAT IS

COMMISSIONING?

WHAT IS VIRTUAL
3DEXPERIENCE® provides manufacturers and line builders with the COMMISSIONING?
optimal way of designing and testing lines. It allows designers to
their work using the tools they're familiar with, providing a secure THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®
environment for communication, collaboration and continuity.
BENEFITS OF
The system enables all parties to access the latest designs while 3DEXPERIENCE®
AND VIRTUAL LINE
protecting the intellectual property of project contributors. Immersive COMMISSIONING
views and robust virtual testing give stakeholders clarity so that new
lines can be implemented at speed and with confidence. TECHNICAL INNOVATION
WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®

For line builders looking for speed, accuracy and cost effectiveness, Reduced costs
3DEXPERIENCE® offers an unparalleled environment for designing Digital continuity
and testing the lines that lead the future. Immersive engagement
Testing and quality

. Independence
Security
Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
PRINCIPLE

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES

THE BOTTOM LINE

17
 INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS
COMMISSIONING?

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WHAT IS VIRTUAL
COMMISSIONING?

READY TO EXPERIENCE
THE 3DEXPERIENCE ®

BENEFITS OF

IT FOR YOURSELF? 3DEXPERIENCE®

AND VIRTUAL LINE
COMMISSIONING

Request a tour of a live demo environment. TECHNICAL INNOVATION

WITH 3DEXPERIENCE ®
Contact one of our solution consultants today.
Reduced costs
Digital continuity
REQUEST A DEMO Immersive engagement
Testing and quality
Independence
Security
Model simplification

VIRTUAL COMMISSIONING
Our 3DEXPERIENCE platform powers our brand applications, serving
® PRINCIPLE
11 industries, and provides a rich portfolio of industry solution experiences.
COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGES
Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company, is a catalyst for human progress. We provide business and people with
collaborative virtual environments to imagine sustainable innovations. By creating ‘virtual experience twins’ of the real world
with our 3DEXPERIENCE platform and applications, our customers push the boundaries of innovation, learning and production. THE BOTTOM LINE

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